Apparatus for delivering mail-bags from railway-trains.



J. G. GROETSOH & GfL. SAAL, J11.

APPARATUS FOR DELIVERIN G MAILBAGS FROM RAILWAY TRAINS.

APPLIOATION 211.111) Dnc. 4,19o71 902,228; v Patented 0ct.27; 903.

To dill whomitmay concern:

UNITED s'rnfrns PATENT OFFI E;

JACOB oHms mne-Roii'rscn Anncnnisrmn LUDWIG SAAL, JR, or 'PATEasoN, I NEwJnnsnY. v

Arrann rusironl'nnprvnnme MAIL-BAGS. FROM RAILWAY-TRAINS.

Be it" known thatw'e, JACOB, CHRISTIAN GnoErsCH and CHRISTIAN LUDWIG SAAL, J r.,

citizens of the United States, residing in Paterson, Passaic county, 'New ersey, have invented a certam new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Delivering Mail' i Bags from RailwayTra'ins; and "we do here-F" by declare the following to be a full, clear,

and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others slg'lled in the art to, which it appertains to make and use the same, referencelieing hadto the ,accompany-,

ing drawings,'and to letters of referencespecification. U

Our; invention has-for its object to provide amechanism whereby mail bags may be discharged from moving trains without opportunity forthe or 'its contents to be injured in anyma'nn'er while the transfer marked thereon, which form apart of this .is taking. place, which mechanism shall be simple and inexpensive in construction, re

liable in' operation, and capable of being handled without danger to the operator. A Our invention consists in providing parallel with the railway, an inclined runway whose higher end'is in thedirection of progress of passing trains, in. combination with a hook-shaped holder for the mail bag,

and a suitable arm carried by a car or other vehicle which, being adapted to hold the hook, carryin'g'the mail bag, in a vertical plane occupied by the runway, will permit the hook to disengage itself therefrom as soon as it is securely deposited on the run- Our invention will be found fully illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein, Figure l is a view of 'ur invention inside elevation, only a part a? a car being shown; Fig. 2 is a view part] in rear elevation and partly in transverse section through the car door; Fig. 3 is a rear view of the hookshaped holder for the mail bag; Fig. i is a side view of What is shown in Fig. 3; and, Fig. 5 shows the pivotal-support for the. hook-shaped h0lder.=: I p In said drawing, Gdesignates a railway and I) a car. i I

At 'the side of the railway mayJbe ar rangedtwo posts 0,, cl, the fo'l merbeing shorter than the latter and being the first reached by 'atrain in passing them- [Be- Patented Oct. 27, 1908.

,l tween the'sektwo posts is stretched taut inclined wire ewhose lower end, ofcourse, is secured to theshorter-post d. This form of inclined runway is probably the most practical one because it is not only simple ,and inexpensive in construction but ade-' quately serves the purpose in hand.

fdesign'atesthe mail bag or pouch, the

.same -l 1aving the usual. rings 9 at the top and bottomthereof. In" accordancewith ourinvention, a' holder 72. fo'rthe temporary supportpf the mailbag is provided. This 'may be a heavy wire bentto form the hook at itsuppeinend' and the smallerhookjat jits lower end, the latter being adapted to i'e c eive one .of the rings 91 of the mail bag and preferably having' a spring-guard 7a which may befriveted to the shank Z of the holder h. Preferably, an eye m is formed in the shank of the holder near its upper end bytwisting or forming a coil in the wire thereof.- The end of the hook i is also bent .back onitself, its extremity nstanding free of the remainder of the hook'i, and cooperating with this rebent portion 'is a spring, guard 0 riveted to the shank Z of the holder, said spring-guard being adapted to lightly bear against the extremity n of hook 2'. It will be understood, however, that we are not necessarily limited to the details of con struction just "set forth.

fThe support for the holderxh is in the form of a bar ppivoted at'g in'th side of the car door, the same preferably having an arm 1' which extends laterally of the bar and rearwardly with reference to the car, being inclined upwardly as best-shown in Fig. 4. The bar 2), which is'pivoted between its ends, may carry a weight 8 on its inner end, which, as soon. as the weight of the mail bag is re lieved from its free or outer end, causes the that the plane of the hook is kept substan tially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the car. The holder being supported on the arm i bf harp, the latter is allowed to swing down into the positionshown in Fig,

2, where the arm is sustaine'd bya stop :ton the car door in substantially a horizontzthposition. This brings the hook 2' in thei-ve'rtical plane of the runway 6, so that when the car passes the runway the "wire 6 .will force its. way between the extremity n of the hook and the spring-guard 0 and bearfagainst the inside of thehook as is shown'i-n dotted out-- line in Fig. The momentum of the parts. will carrythe bag up the runway-.untilthe incline of the latter overcomes suchimomen slipped off the arm 'r-of bar 79, thus trans f'erring ti ie'holder'and the bag-from-the car,

to the runway. The holder-willthen slide back down the runway in convenient reach for its'removal therefrom while the bar 77 will automatically assume its verticalaposi' g tion under theaction of its weight-,3. It will be understood that the ,purpose of the" spring guard 0 and cooperating extremity n i of hook is to lnsure against the holder jumping from the runway on.its first impact therewith.

Having thus fully describedpur inven-' tion, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patentof the United States is 1. The combination, with a railway and a velncle running thereon, of aninclinedrunway arranged substantially parallel T with the railway, a hook shaped ba -holder;" ai1'd means, comprising a rearwar lyextending arm, for movably supporting 'said -bagholder on the vehicle in position 'to be engaged by Said runway, substantially as described. i I

'2. The combination, with'a' railway and a I vehicle running thereon, of an inclined run-.

way arranged substantially parallel with the railway, a'hook-shapedbag-holder, and. means, comprisin a. rearwardly. extending upwardly incline arm, for removably supends hook-shaped an porting said bagfholder on the yehicle in position t'o beengaged bysaid runway, substantially as described.

thev railway, athook-shaped bag-holder, and

asuppo'rt for the bag-holder pivoted in the vehicle on a horizontal'axisand comprising a rearwardly extending arm adapted to receive the bag-holder, I substantially .as degs'cribed.

tum, by which time the holder will have I at. The combinatiomjwith aira'ilway and a vehicle running thereon',of. an-inclined runway arranged substantially parallel wlth thefrailway, a hook-shaped bag-holder, and

a support for the bag-holder pivoted in the vehicle on a'horizonta'l aXisand comprising a rearwardly, extending upwardly lnclined arm adapted to receive the bag-holder, substantially as described. I v

5. The combination, with avehicle, of*an -.inclined runway, a hook shape'd bageholder,

and a support for the bag-holder having a bag-holder receiving arm extending fromthe support upwardly in an incline reverse to that of the runway, substantially as described, ,6. In combination,wi'th-a vehicle and an inclined runway,--a bag-holder providediwith an eye in its .upperfortion and having its holder having an arm adapted to be received by said :eye, substantially as described.

- I Intestimo'ny', that we claim the foregoing,

we have hereunto set our hands day of November,

Jicoix CHRISTIAN GROETSGH. emusrnr mmwle SAAL, JR.

this 30th witnessesr v JOHN D. STEWARD, W D. Bnm...

asupport for the bag; 

